Excerpts from The Chronicle's snow sports blog, Slope Dope, found at sfgate.com/slopedope.

If you ski or snowboard, you have to be excited about the snow that's fallen in the high Sierra this week.

As a result, the anticipation for the weekend is unlike anything we've seen all winter.

The timing appears perfect. Since Monday, roughly 45 to 60 inches of fresh snow, depending where you looked, fell across the Tahoe region. It was still snowing through the day Thursday.

The storm was expected to clear late Thursday and leave blue skies and afternoon temperatures in the mid-50s for the weekend. That means clear roads for easy driving, fresh groomed runs atop the snowpack and plenty of terrain with powder.

It will probably be the biggest ski weekend of the season.

After a drought, this week's storms are a game changer: Boreal near Donner Pass on Interstate 80 reported 60 inches of fresh snow this week, Alpine Meadows at North Tahoe 56 inches and Heavenly at South Lake Tahoe 51.

During the storms, high winds kept operations to a minimum on the ridges. On Thursday morning, Heavenly put Gondola and Stagecoach Express on wind hold and temporarily closed the Boulder Lodge and lift. Heavenly reported 22 of 30 lifts in operation, 72 of 97 runs open and great snow surface conditions. As the storm moves out, full operations are possible at many resorts this weekend.

"It's a great powder day," reported Ashley Smith at Heavenly. "Four inches of fresh snow has fallen since the lifts closed (Wednesday), making a foot of snow in the last 24 hours. Up to another foot of snow is expected throughout the day today, and we've received 2 1/2 to 3 feet of snow in the last three days already." New terrain is expected to open for the weekend.

A check of other resorts also brought good news. Homewood, perched just above lake level on Tahoe's western shore, reported a base snow level of 51 to 75 inches, bottom to top, respectively. An hour south of South Lake Tahoe, Kirkwood on Highway 88 reported Thursday morning base snow numbers of 67, 70 and 75 inches. Everything will be a go at Kirkwood this weekend.

Despite this week's storm, snowfall is never uniform across the mountains. Smith noted there might still be spots where obstacles exist, especially in trees off groomed runs.

The storm had all the highways in the mountains looking like the South Pole on Thursday. At Lake Tahoe, it was snowing with visibility as low as a quarter mile and overcast at 100 feet.

If you have been to Tahoe recently, the transformation is hard to believe. Last Friday, it was 61 degrees with clear, dry roads and bare ground.